Back in the Line of Duty
by Know-It-All-2009
Summary: Sequel to 'Better Together' The island has blown up in his face, who better to recruit to help him solve the mystery than his best friend? Tommy Oliver is back in the line of duty trying to set up a command center and to pick three teens to train to become the next set of Power Rangers...but will the training kill them before they earn their Dino Gem?
1. The Phone Call

**Back in the Line of Duty  
**

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_Authoress Note: Okay there were supposed to be two fan fictions between __**Better Together & Back in the Line of Duty**__ that followed Hayley and Tommy through their college years and then what I've dubbed as the missing years shortly after Tommy starts going on archeological digs but they are __**not **__coming to me easily._

_Therefore we're skipping those two segments and jumping straight into this one. If that plot bunny comes back then __**Back in the Line of Duty **__will be the __**fourth **__in the series but as of right now it's the __**second **__in the series with at least two more parts to follow no matter how the original second and third parts play out._

_As always check my profile to find out what fan fictions and one shots are included in the __**Better Together Series.**_

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01. The Phone Call

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Hayley Zicktor had been fast asleep when the phone call came in. Looking at her phone found it was a number she didn't recognize which almost made her not answer it, but something told her she needed to and ignoring the logic that told her not to she opened her phone before mumbling a quiet, and rather sleepy 'hello'.

"Hayley, it's me." The voice said, which was all it took for her to awaken fully and sit straight up in the bed.

"Tommy, where have you been the past few years?" she asked, looking around the apartment that was technically still theirs, even though he had left for an archeological dig and since then, rarely spent any time at their apartment, and three years ago, stopped coming home at all.

"It's a long story Hayley. We need to talk. There's a lot I need to tell you and I can't do it over the phone." He said.

That sparked her interest. That meant he thought he was being listened to, or there was a chance he was being recorded, or just flat out didn't want to tell her over the phone. She needed to be sure.

"Can't or don't want to?" she asked, falling back into the playful banter they had built over the years.

"Don't want to. You can talk freely; I'm on a burner phone just in case." Tommy said which really raised Hayley's eyebrows into her hair lines. "How much vacation time do you have?" he asked, knowing she never took a vacation unless her boss forced her too.

"Nine weeks. I passed my three year mark last week." She said, but Tommy should have known that, he was there when she had started at that company.

"Good. Take four of it if you don't mind. If it's not PTO I'll reimburse you the difference." He said, throwing the last part out like it was nothing that he could drop $5,000 to see her for a month.

It was definitely serious.

"It's paid so we're good. Where am I meeting you?" Hayley asked, she had gotten a job at a think tank in Seattle shortly after graduating and Tommy had followed her to Seattle to teach at the University there which was why he was on digs so much.

"Get a hold of your boss and let me know what day you can leave. I still have a few things to work out. Keep your phone charged and call me back once you know when you can leave." He said before he sighed.

"I should be good to leave tomorrow. I never take time off but give me a little bit." She said before they said their usual goodbyes and hung up the phone.

A glance at the clock told Hayley it was six in the morning, which meant her boss was already at work. Making the phone call had been rather easy, her boss had been on her ass about her not taking vacation time and when Hayley had told her she would be working on a new program for the Think Tank, she had readily agreed and told Hayley she would see her in six weeks: starting that day.

Returning the phone call, Hayley was a bit put out that Tommy didn't answer but she knew he would call back as she started making coffee, not surprised when her phone rang just as she took the first sip of her coffee.

"I can leave today." Was Hayley's opening remark as she answered her phone, which earned her a laugh from Tommy.

"Good because I already booked your flight. You leave in two and a half hours. You'll land in San Francisco California at 9:30 if everything goes as planned. Bring enough clothes for at least a week I need to buy a washer and dryer while you're here." He said, throwing the last comment out halfheartedly before Hayley hung up the phone and started scrambling to get ready, bringing as much of her tech gear as she could per Tommy's orders.

[PAGE BREAK]

The flight was rather uneventful all things considered and true to his word Tommy was waiting for her as she made it out into the terminal, greeting her with a tighter hug than she thought she had ever received.

"It's good to see you again. I'm renting a house while I'm here so let's get going." He said, taking her carry-on luggage which felt like it weighed a ton before they made it onto the freeway.

"Where are we headed and can we stop and get coffee?" Hayley asked, which earned her a laugh from Tommy as he motioned to a second cup of coffee that was sitting in a cup holder next to his.

"You didn't think I forgot that did you?" He asked, causing her to laugh as she remembered how forgetful he was when the first met," and as far as where we're going. Reefside, California. We should be there in about two hours but it was safer to have you fly into San Fran. I'm in some deep shit Hayley. I thought my days as a ranger where over with."

Tommy mentally kicked himself for letting it slip like that as Hayley gave him a dubious look before she shook her head.

"That explains where you disappeared to a few years back. You came back so beaten up I thought I was going to have to erase someone's existence." She said, apparently taking things in stride a lot better than he thought she would. "Now what have you gotten yourself into?" she asked, making her self-comfortable, she could tell this was going to be a long ride.

"You remember when I started working for Anton Mercer?" He asked, knowing she would, Hayley had helped him get the job. When she nodded her head he continued. "He wasn't just excavating them, he was draining them of the residual power they had and turning them into monsters. Well the plan backfired on him and the island blew up in our faces literally, but somehow the technology he was working on has vanished, his research notes, the equipment, everything. I couldn't find anything in the wreckage and that bothers me, but I was able to steal a few things before the island blew itself sky high. That's what I need your help with, because I don't think this is over by a long shot." He said, giving her a look that said to bear with him.

"What ranger where you?" she asked suddenly, earning her a boisterous laugh.

"What color wasn't I would be the better question. I was the evil Green Ranger, then the good Green Ranger. The White Ranger for the original team and then when the Zeo Rangers arrived I was the Red Ranger before we transferred our powers to a new team to give us time to live our lives not always looking over our shoulders and it seems I may have stumbled right back into it all on my own." He said, the bitterness evident in his voice. "I helped create something that may very well be in the wrong hands right now and I can't live with that." He said, his voice almost breaking towards the end when Hayley reached over and gave his free hand a squeeze.

"We'll figure it out Tommy, we'll figure it out." She said, before she turned her attention back to the scenery that passed them by.


	2. Not Enough Technology

**Back in the Line of Duty**

**02. ** Not Enough Technology

**Dedicated to **JeremyShane for the first review

* * *

Hayley let out a low whistle as they drove out to the house that Tommy was currently renting in Reefside, California.

"Couldn't get any more secluded could you?" Hayley asked as she watched Tommy place the key in the lock before punching in a code for the alarm pad that was on the wall.

"The code's 00395 memorize it you'll need it." He said, allowing her to come further into the house as he entered the kitchen, pouring Hayley a glass of wine as he grabbed a bottle of water for himself, he had a feeling she needed it, even if it was only one in the afternoon.

"So let me get this straight. You have three Dino Gems that you want to use the powers from to turn into morphers just in case someone decides to come after them and in the process attempt to destroy or take over the world?" she asked, wanting to make sure she understood everything that she had been told on the drive over to Tommy's new place.

"Correct. I know it sounds crazy _but _for the few parts of my life you didn't know about, crazy is the normal. They usual go for the most far-fetched plans that usually almost always work in their favor." He said, taking a sip of his water bottle as he sat down at the island in his kitchen, motioning her to do the same.

"On top of that you want me to create a command center, or base of operations, whatever you want to call it. Which will do several things. A) monitor the city in case of an attack B) hopefully be helpful in locating the dinosaur gems C) help you locate three teenagers to take up the mantle just in case, because once a person is bonded with the gem, theoretically, only their sibling and maybe their parent could take over it and D) help you start training said teenagers before we even give them the Dino Gems. Does that cover everything?" she asked, for once letting her sarcasm come through in leaps and bounds

"Very much so; if we could start training them as soon as we can get the Command Center and Training Room set up it would make it that much easier when they became rangers." Tommy said, gauging Hayley for her reaction.

"So we cherry-pick three teenagers, hope they bond with the gym, and train them to be rangers?" She asked, taking another sip of her wine as if her head was spinning from all the information.

"Pretty much that's how the first set of rangers was chosen but the morphers automatically bonded with us when we put them one and we chose our predecessors based on how they handled themselves in an attack." Tommy said, as he stretched his back before reaching for a remote and hitting a button as jazz started to fill the room, it was something Hayley had gotten him into when they had started rooming together and it was something he had kept up, even while away from her.

"I've never even seen a Command Center before. I have no idea how to go about setting it up or what all I would need." She said, making a valid point that Tommy knew she would bring up.

"I need it to be able to monitor the city at the least. Because the gems are here, they'll set up base somewhere around here, its Ranger History 101. It's why I bought a house off the beaten path, less chance of being followed home." He said, forgetting that he had told her he rented it.

"You bought it?" she asked, pausing mid-sip wondering what this would mean about their shared apartment in Seattle.

"Yeah, it isn't safe to have them in an apartment building and I needed a base of operations. It's far enough outside the city limits that no one's gone to suddenly show up. I'll still keep up my end of the rent until you can find someone you can live with." He said, knowing that it was her biggest issue with it.

"I'm actually getting tired of working for the think tank. I thought it would be more challenging than it was but apparently I was wrong." Hayley said, sighing as she threw that tidbit of information his way.

"What do you plan on doing if you leave there? You have to have money to live off of." He said, as they had never discussed their salaries with each other, just because it had never come up.

"I'm sitting on enough that I could buy ten houses in cash and still have enough to live off of very comfortably for the next fifteen years." She said, not giving him an exact figure but giving him enough information to put his mind at ease. "It's a very lucrative job." She had started working for the think tank during her freshman year of college, she had just taken the job at the coffee shop to allow herself time to interact with people and had banked every penny from that job.

Tommy let out a whistle as he looked at her.

"So you're set. Then if that's what you want to do I won't try and persuade you otherwise." Tommy said, feeling better now that he knew she wasn't hurting for money.

"Let me call my boss, tell her I want to use up my vacation time and then cash in my 401(k) and Retirement Fund." She said her mind already made up as she stood up and walked outside returning twenty minutes later with a grin on her face.

"Well Dr. O I'm all yours. I just have to finish up one computer program before my six weeks are up but that only needs another two hours' worth of work." She said, shrugging it off as she began really looking around his house. "Show me where you want the Command Center." She said, as she stood, following him down to the basement of the house, which was a lot larger than she had expected.

It was an unfinished basement, which meant she could wire it exactly how she wanted it. That was definitely a plus in her book, but there was on important question she had to ask him.

"What's the budget for the entire room, finishing it, wiring it and technology?" she asked, her mind already running through numbers at lighting speed.

"Keep it under $150,000 and I'm happy." He said, throwing the number out there as if was nothing, but Tommy wasn't stupid, he knew it would take a lot to get a functional command center up and running.

"That's a lot but we'll probably need it. I want to hardwire everything; it's harder to hack into that way." Hayley said, more to herself than Tommy as she started walking around the room examining the space with a very critical eye.

"How many stations do you want it to have?" she asked, knowing that they should probably at least have two stations at a bare minimum.

"Two at the very least, if we need to add more down the road we can, just make sure to wire it so we have enough wire's for at least four more stations." He said, running through a mental check list of his own for the gym he wanted to create. Weights were a definite, as was a treadmill for rainy days, and an all-in-one gym.

"We thankfully have two vehicles while you're here. Yours is still in Seattle unfortunately. If I had known you would have agreed so readily I would have sent you the money to drive it but you can take my jeep and I'll take the truck. Put together a list of everything you'll need along with an approximate pricing list and I'll do the same and then we'll compare and then divide and conquer." Tommy said, handing her a notebook and watched as he could practically here the synapsis in her brain start firing and running through everything they could possibly need to set up a command center as he started writing down what he would need for the in house gym.

* * *

An hour later they both had new debit cards as they divided after the bank, with an agreement to meet back at Tommy's new house within two hours.

Hayley made her first stop at the lumber store, grabbing enough panels to finish the basement as well as the hardware involved before she made her next stop at an office supply store, knowing that they were going to just love her.

When she left a hour and a half later she had two 65' tv screens that she planned to use as computer monitors, two Alienware Processors to attach to the monitors as well as a third to help reduce lag time and to act as a server. From there she had branched out into external hard drives, two workstations, two computer chairs and headphones followed by memory cards and video cards.

Software had been a lot harder to purchase as she was going to have to tweak the majority of it. The first few purchases where the obvious anti-virus, mal ware software, and a software system to go with the video monitoring cameras she had purchased to go around the outside of the house which she was sure Tommy would appreciate.

Beyond that she had set up a post office box and then gotten into contact with a few of her friends within the Think Tank society and was expecting a rather large order of iris scans, finger print scans, and several other technologies that she wanted to install without the aid of technician, or it showing up in any database.

* * *

Returning to the house her best friend owned found him hauling in several rather large pieces of gym equipment, it looked like he had purchased the display models, but a person usually came out cheaper than buying it off a shelf that way.

Setting up the command center was going to take Hayley roughly a full twenty four hours, because she had to completely wire the basement the way she wanted to and then add the panels, which she had made sure where removable to make future installation a lot easier.

Three hours and one pot of coffee later, Hayley had the entire basement wired and walled up, with the help of Tommy who had joined her as soon as he finished setting up the gym in the basement.

With everything wired, Hayley left Tommy to assemble the desks as she returned to the post office box she had set up, knowing her order would be there. Her friends worked fast, especially if the Queen of Information was asking for something.

Knowing better than to open the box in public she waited until she was back at Tommy's before dragging the box into the basement, glad to see that the two desks where set up.

"Go ahead and set up the computers and add these software's to each." She said, handing him a rather tall pile of computer software as she opened the box she had been sent. Inside where the motion detectors that she wanted to place along his driveway, once they were set up, if they were trigged the cameras would automatically capture an image of who was coming down the driveway.

The retina scans would go on the tunnel that led outside and also on the inside door which she still had to figure out how to hide, but she would get to that later. The palm print scanners would also go with the retina scanners for extra security but the problem that came from that was how was she going to be able to hide it?

Shaking her head she put it from her mind as she started adding software to the second computer in their lair that Tommy wasn't currently working on.

One thought came to her mind as she worked late into the evening.

_What on Earth have you gotten yourself into Hayley Zicktor?_


	3. Countless Hours and Requesting Back Up

**Back in the Line of Duty  
03. **Countless Hours and Requesting Back Up

* * *

Hayley worked late into the evening on getting their system up in running, able to hack into the cameras that where up throughout the city with relative ease which surprised Tommy, although it shouldn't have.

A week had past and the system was running very smoothly, thanks to Hayley having gotten wind of a certain Astro Megaship that was able to connect them as a proxy to the Internet once Andros gave her the correct access code and the website to go through. It was rather ingenious how Andros had it set up and it would sever as a good starting point for any former ranger.

Currently Hayley was running the last of her scans to make sure the system was up and running correctly while Tommy was sitting beside her, playing around on the second system, attempting to figure out how it worked. With the way Hayley had the user interface set up however, it wouldn't take him that long to figure it out.

"Any idea how we're going to locate potential ranger candidates ?" Hayley asked, knowing it wasn't going to be an easy task.

"I actually had an idea but it's completely up to you." He said, pausing in his work to turn and face Hayley who stopped typing momentarily.

"What's that?" She asked, giving him her full attention.

"You know how you always said if you had the money or the time how you wanted to set up a Cyber Café?" he asked, knowing he could be on dangerous territory rather quickly if he wasn't careful.

"Yes I do remember. You want to use the Café to screen for potential candidates." She said this as a statement, she had known Tommy long enough to be able to read between the lines.

"That is if you still want to set it up." Tommy said, praying to any god that was listening, or being for that matter that she did.

"I can do that. I can have it up and running by the end of next month at the latest. I assume Reefside will be our base of operations?" she asked, wanting to clarify so she knew where to look for properties at.

"Yes. I passed an old warehouse district that people are turning into shops if that's something you'd be interested in; they're going for rather cheap to. I think it's roughly fifty thousand for title and the taxes because no one wants to buy in that area." Tommy said, glad he had done his research ahead of time.

"Did you get the relator's number? I want to look at it today if you don't mind. That way if I like it I can go ahead and put in for my food permit and business permit. Those will take at least two weeks to get back to me, if I'm lucky and at some point one of us has to go back to Seattle, close out the apartment and get my car." Hayley said, giving Tommy a pointed look to make sure he hadn't forgotten her vehicle was still a few hundred miles from her.

"Here's the number. You call the relator and go look at it and then get started on your permits if you like it. Rumor has it they have an area above that could be converted into a closed off apartment if you didn't want to pay bills on two different places." Tommy said, as Hayley punched in the information for the relator that was attempting to sell in the old warehouse district. "While you're working on that I'm going to come up with a training program for the recruits starting at square one. I know it's only February and you could be up and running at the beginning of March so with that I'll set it up for half of May, which is a school month, and then the rest of the summer." Tommy said, more to himself as he pulled up a spreadsheet on the computer system he was working on and began brainstorming what it took to be a decent ranger.

Observation skills where a definite and could be honed over time. Fighting skills and flexibility were also a plus but that could be ingrained over time. Out-going, willingness to help, rather decent students, somewhat well-liked by their peers, but that wouldn't exclude someone that spent more time to themselves just because they preferred it. The final one was very important; a sense of what was right and a self-motivated individual where essential in succeeding as a ranger, even if it had to be learned over time.

[INSERT PAGE BREAK]

Tommy soon learned, or remembered rather, that Hayley was as a relentless worker as he was. It was now the middle of March and _Hayley's Cyberspace _had been up and running for two weeks now and while Hayley had an idea for one of the rangers, the blue one in fact, she hadn't seen someone cross her door who she thought fit the red and yellow ranger profiles as much as she would have liked.

The blue ranger candidate was Ethan James. He was in his freshman year at Reefside High and was a straight-A student; but what sealed the deal was he was a computer junkie. He was either working on a computer for a friend, working on his own computer, or playing a video game.

He didn't have that many friends except when someone wanted him to fix his computer and on Saturday's and Sunday's he spent an abnormal about of time in the café, almost exactly from the time she opened to the time she closed, either that meant trouble at home, or no one was home to care that he was gone that often.

That could be a plus and that could be a problem but Hayley hadn't mentioned it to Tommy yet, she didn't think it would make a difference either way if the kids had home problems, as long as they had the time to train he would be happy.

She had talked to him at some point and had given him a half price smoothie coupon to pass out during his classes, hoping to get a few customers in the door from Reefside so she could have a larger pool to pull from, so far she only seemed to attract the geeks, the nerds, and the kids whose parents had grounded them from the internet but had forgotten that they could go almost anywhere and get on the internet.

Hayley could just as easily hack the school records but she didn't think that was the best way to get started looking for potential power rangers in training. Tommy was currently working on finding a way to harness the power of the Dino Gems into morphers, which was really hard to do considering they couldn't touch the morphers with their bare hands or said gem would become attached to them.

As much as the idea fascinated Hayley, she did _not _want to become a power ranger at her age, technology support was just fine with her. She preferred to be in the shadows as much as she possibly could anyway, it was the easiest way to gather information.

Closing up shop as she chased the last of her stragglers out Hayley fixed a rather large thermos of coffee before she made her way down the winding roads to Tommy's house, using the entrance they had etched out into a tunnel, not surprised to see Tommy working away on something or other even with the time going on nine pm.

"What you working on?" She asked, placing the thermos of coffee next to him as she pulled down two cups they had started keeping down in the lair.

"A mixture of things really; I got the job at Reefside High for next semester so I need to get started on a lesson plan. I'm coordinating with Jason, Rocky, and Adam on a training schedule for the new rangers. I'm coordinating with Billy, Aisha, and Justin on a school schedule that could possibly enable them to graduate early so we wouldn't have to worry about interrupting their course schedule so much and they still have a decent chance of getting into a good four-year university. I'm coordinating with Adam, Justin, and Kat on what the legalities are of me telling each of their parents I'm taking them to a summer camp or trip depending. I was thinking they could stay here for the summer because they're going to be too exhausted to do anything other than sleep, _but, _if we can't swing the summer camp thing… The other idea was to say it was only a two week excursion, which I actually do plan on taking them on, but it'd have to be before they started summer classes. I'm teaching Biology II and Chemistry I this summer which would be good for them to take as well as Sophomore English but that will be their choice completely and they could easily do the English portion at an online accredited high school, but yeah…I think that's everything." Tommy said, letting out a rush of air at the end.

"Okay. Forget the school schedule, we haven't even figured out who we're going to approach yet. Second, training schedule is good, be sure to leave room in there for me to teach them some tech stuff. I don't need to be the only one that knows how to work everything." Hayley said, almost tempted to take the coffee away from Tommy until she suddenly remembered why he had come over.

"I think I found our blue ranger. Ethan James. Freshman at Reefside High pretty much a straight-A student, hi-tech computer lover, I plan on throwing some programming books his way. He said he doesn't know any programming languages and it's beyond time he started. If you don't mind, I'd prefer he spend more time with me than with you doing physical training, he's got some real potential." Hayley said, glad when Dr. O gave a curt nod as he turned back to his emails.

"Sounds good. Blues are always the techies and his brain will save him in battle more than his physical strength; but I still want him to condition for the first year just like the rest, I want him to be able to hold his own." Tommy said, leaving no room for argument as Hayley started taping on the keys rapidly.

"I also sent him to school with half price coupons to give out that are good this Friday after school lets out until we close Sunday evening. Feel like hanging around the café? There's free coffee in it for you." Hayley said, throwing out the deal sealer as he turned and grinned at her.

"Risk a chance of turning up your coffee? I think not. I'll be at your doorstep Friday evening with the hand-held that attaches to this." Tommy said, laughing at the inside joke about computers before he returned his attention back to his screen when it suddenly beeped.

"Hey Hayley, my house is going to be invaded between now and this coming Thursday, so four days, all former rangers, you up to the challenge when you get off work?" Tommy asked, turning to see her giving him a grin he recognized for their college years.

Hayley Zicktor was more than ready for it.


	4. Welcome to Reefside California

**Back in the Line of Duty  
**_**Welcome to Reefside, CA**_

* * *

**Dedicated to: PinkRangerV **for letting me bounce ideas off of you early this morning and late last night.

Thanks to **JeremyShane **for their review on **Chapter 3**!

_Reviews are love guys. These next 3-5 chapters are setting the ground work and then we'll pick up around chapter 7-9 into the action so bare with me. The background is important to the story._

* * *

Tommy Oliver woke the next day at three am, knowing he would have to do several runs to the airport to pick up his friends and fellow rangers who would be flying in from across the United States. He already smelled coffee which meant that Hayley was already up and working in the command center. He was sure she was ready to meet Billy and Justin as they were stumped on how to actually create the morphers.

Sure, Hayley had a general idea and design to keep them from being too obvious but it was a matter of _how _to get them set up that way that had both of them stumped. As he dressed half asleep and made his way in the direction of the coffee pot that they kept in the downstairs command center he began running through a mental checklist.

They needed teenagers that where self-motivated, who could avoid the suspicions of their parents if at all possible but considering the fact they could very well be choosing teenagers that were going into their sophomore year, due to Hayley's interest in Ethan James, transportation could very well be an issue until they started their junior year but they could cross that bridge when they got there.

A psychological evaluation wouldn't be a bad thing to run them through either, being a ranger wasn't easy, but at the rate rangers kept being turned evil, it probably wouldn't be to fair to force them into a psychological evaluation. One would be rated to make sure they could handle the training schedule which would be rather through and not to mention tough.

That was a part of the reason he was bringing in Jason, Rocky, and Adam. All three had previous martial arts experience. He would feel more comfortable brining in Alyssa and Taylor from the Wild Force team if they wound up with a female ranger, which Tommy was sure they would, it was always good to have a female ranger to help balance out the egotistical tendencies of the male rangers.

Shaking his head to clear it from such deep thoughts this early in the morning, he took the stairs down into the command center two at a time silently handing Hayley her cup of coffee that he had already placed in a travel mug that was probably four times bigger than should legally be allowed before he sat down and began emailing the two female rangers he hadn't thought of until his brain was clouded with sleep.

"I'm picking up Jason, Rocky, Adam, Zach and Katherine here in about an hour as well as going to a grocery store. You're picking up Justin, Billy, Kimberly, Aisha, Tanya and a rather large order from Best Buy, and Office Depot. My crew and I will have to stop by a house that Jason rented out here to pick up an order that we didn't want coming straight to the house and then we'll we back." Tommy said, as Hayley raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"Can I have Katherine and you take Kimberly?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to be in such an enclosed space with the first pink ranger.

"Kimberly and I have gotten over our differences a long time ago, and she's actually a very sweet girl." Tommy said, giving Hayley a look that said '_work with me' _before he turned back to the grocery list he was making. "Is there anything you want me to add to the grocery list?" he asked, knowing that her working twenty hours around the clock for him had to have been wearing her out.

"Coffee and caffeine, lots of it. If we each go through only two cups a day at eight ounces, that'd put us at 176 ounces of coffee in one day, and you and I both know that we drink more than two cups." She said, turning to give him a grin as she continued," a canister of coffee gives out 240 cups each and we'll go through a minimum of twenty two cups of coffee a day so we'll probably need four canisters of coffee since they're staying two weeks." She said, watching as he looked at her in amusement before adding it to the list.

"Four cases of water, the Citrus Full Throttle's in a Case of 24, get two just in case anyone else drinks it. From there enough food to last us a week, so meat, chicken, fish, the rest you can figure out once you get there." She said, as she handed him another list that she had put together, glad to see it was a rather short list as he grabbed his coffee cup and headed to pick his friends up at the airport.

* * *

By the time the entire group had arrived back at Tommy's house everyone was rather curious as to why they were there, as Tommy had only given them the barebones basics over the mass email and phone call he had sent out.

Thankfully both Alyssa and Taylor had received his email, and as Taylor was recently retired and Alyssa was helping her father with their marital arts studio she was able to leave him in charge for as long as necessary.

After relaying the important information, and introducing Hayley to everyone that was there it was time to get down to business.

"I assume you want a female ranger, or we wouldn't be here, correct?" Taylor asked, motioning to Alyssa and herself.

"Yes. The other two will be males but it always seems to work better when there's a female ranger on the team. Alyssa, you still practice the White Tiger method?" Tommy asked, wanting to make sure he had his facts right.

"I do. I'm running a dojo in the evening and teach kindergarten during the day." She said, giving Tommy a smile as she turned to Taylor. "I assume Kimberly, Katherine, Taylor, Aisha, Tanya and I will be training the female?" she asked, glad to see Tommy nod.

"Kimberly's gymnastics saved her life more than once as a ranger, it'd be helpful to teach the girl ranger a few things about gymnastics. Katherine dances, and once again it saved her life more than once. Aisha and Tanya are book smart to the extreme and have developed their own styles of fighting. Taylor's got her military background to help train the girl in and you have the White Tiger method to train her in, we can't afford for the one girl ranger to be the weak link, they always go for the girls. I want the six of you to get together and come up with a training program, start from scratch as if they knew nothing because we probably won't get that lucky. The same for the guys, start from scratch on a training regime, the blue ranger, Ethan James, will also be spending a fair amount of time with Hayley, Billy, and Justin because he's a computer person, Hayley wants him to know how to run the computer system like the back of his hand as well as code it if Hayley isn't available to us for a while." Tommy said, before he stood and started a rather large pot of coffee.

"Billy and Justin, Hayley needs your help with a few things and then I want the three of you to come up with a feasible school schedule for our newest rangers. Hayley sent out ½ priced coupons to the entire school that are good for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so we'll be picking over the course of three days unless we find one we really like. The other colors we have to work with are yellow and red, and no, I am not taking one I am getting too old for this." Tommy said, as soon as a few set of eyes turned to him as soon as he mentioned the Red Dino Gem. There was no way he was going back into spandex, he had no problem training but he was _not _going to become a ranger again.

"Okay guys, divide off, tech is with me. If you're working on the female's training schedule there's a table to the left. If you're working on the males there's a table to your right." Hayley said, as Billy and Justin stepped up to her before introducing themselves and then pulling up a chair for what would be a very long session of brainstorming.


	5. The Chosen Ones

**Back in the Line of Duty  
05. The Chosen Ones  
(or a long weekend at Hayley's Cyberspace)**

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**Brankel1 & Jeremy Shane**: Thank you for the reviews. This one is on the average length size but hopefully I can pump out a longer chapter for the next one where Kira, Ethan, and Conner find out they have been chosen to the be the next set of power rangers.

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Hayley's Cyberspace was rather slow but it was only four thirty and the night was still young. Ethan James had arrived about twenty minutes ago was discussing one of the coding books Hayley had given him with the woman in question as the debated the semantics over this code or that code.

It was enough to make Tommy's head hurt as he glanced around the room as more people started milling in as they finished up whatever they had to after school. His attention was immediately drawn to a brown haired young girl who had a lean body and a guitar case slung over her shoulder as well as her book bag.

She found a seat at the couch that was out of the way of the main crowd before she pulled out a rather thick looking Geometry textbook and a binder that was almost as large as Tommy's lesson plans notebook before she started attempting to work her way through the problem set she had been given for homework.

He gave Kimberly and Tanya a nudge before nodding his head in the direction of the young girl, not wanting it to be obvious they were there to people watch, for all intense and purposes. She looked rather fit and kept to herself, which where two requirements they had in looking for the red and yellow rangers.

When the girl in question hadn't turned a page in almost forty minutes Tommy gave a discrete nod at Hayley and then back to the young girl before Hayley nodded back to him in return, fixing an iced mocha from behind the counter before asking Billy to watch it for her as she approached the young girl.

]

* * *

Hayley approached the blondish light brown haired girl before setting the coffee down on the coffee table in front of her.

"You seem to be struggling, would you like some help? I took up through Calculus in college." She said, holding out her hand to the girl in front of her. "I'm Hayley." She said, sighing internally with relief when the girl shook her hand.

"Kira Ford and yes please. I don't remember how to work any of these. It feels like I slept through the class because the notes I took make no sense." She said, scooting over to allow Hayley to sit down next to her as they started discussing Kira's homework for the next forty minutes.

"Here's your problem. You copied down your formula wrong." Hayley said, circling the formula before writing in the correct one as Kira quickly worked out a problem with the new formula, glad to find that the answer came out right.

"Thank you so much." Kira said, reaching for her wallet that was in her bag. "What do I owe you for the coffee?" she asked, pulling out a five dollar bill as she tried to hand it to Hayley.

"Nothing, I think the Algebra work made you suffer enough. Although, if you'd like to perform tomorrow night…" Hayley said, patting the girl on the shoulder before making her way back to the bar, giving Tommy a positive shake of the head and a grin as what Hayley had told Kira sunk in, as she shouted out a yes across the room before she quickly went back to work on her math homework, finishing it within twenty minutes.

Aisha and Tanya watched the girl waiting until she finished her homework before they moved in, asking about the girl's guitar as a way in and soon found them sitting down next to her lost in an animated conversation more than likely about music before Tommy turned his attention away from the girls as he kept scanning the rest of the room.

Around seven pm that evening, just as they were about to call it a night, members of the Reefside High School soccer team came in, looking like they had just come from a rough practice. Most of them where rather blunt, and rude, to Hayley as they called out there orders. The very last one to order caught his attention however.

"Sorry about them." He said, giving her a smile before he scanned the menu for a moment. "Can I get a Java Chip with a shot of espresso and a chocolate chip muffin?" he asked, pulling a ten out of his wallet, unaware of several sets of eyes on him.

"Certainly. Varsity or Junior Varsity?" She asked, nodding her head at Conner's soccer jersey which was rather dirty.

"Varsity and by the skin of my teeth." He said, laughing as if remembering his tryouts before he accepted his change from Hayley as well as his muffin before walking over to a deserted table away from his team mates where he set down his backpack before coming back for his cup of coffee, placing five dollars in the tip tray before giving her a nod of his head and a thank you before he settled into his table, pulling out the same Algebra 2 book that Kira had been working out of, before he started flying through the problems at an alarming rate; apparently he had a good grasp of whatever they were going over at the moment.

When he moved onto working out of a Biology 2 textbook Tommy gave Jason and Adam a pointed look before nodding back to the boy that was silently working his way through his science homework but appeared to be stuck on a problem.

When they made introductions Conner looked concerned for a few moments before he relaxed, not fully, but enough that he was making open conversation with Jason and Zach, although more so with Adam than Jason; it almost made Tommy wish he had a Black Dino Gem instead of a red one.

People tended to be attracted to the ranger who held the color they were destined to hold form previous experience.

By the time Hayley's Cyberspace was ready to close for the evening only Kira and Conner where left, finishing up the last of their homework before they left at the same time, Conner holding the door for Kira with a smile before they walked out of sight, leaving the former rangers and Hayley alone.

"It's them." Hayley said, having been watching the interactions as she served coffee from behind the counter and fixed the occasional computer problem.

Tommy just gave a nod of his head with a grin on his face.

"Pull their records Hayley. Let me know if anything throws up a red flag, police and school records. Do the same for Ethan James" Tommy said, before they all started the long trek back to Tommy's secluded house, feeling rather good about their evening.

Now came the hard part; how to get the teenagers to believe him about the rangering part.


End file.
